I have just seen "Heaven's Gate" for the first time in its full-lenght cut, which runs for more than three and a half hours. I can't believe how it got so negative reviews by critics. It may be self indulgent, too long... but not bad by any means.

Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography deserves very high praises. He chose to emulate the look he delivered to "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and going further: he flashed both the negative and the prints, pushed the film one stop in development, used low-resolution and low-con lenses such as anamorphic zooms, double fog filters to create halos around light sources, plus lots of smoke and dust to diffuse the images even more. The end results are almost like watching old sepia-toned photographs and translates the viewer to the past as only other film may have done that good: the scenes featuring the young Vito Corleone in "Godfather, Part II", shot by Gordon Willis, ASC. I also enjoyed very much his lighting, mostly by hard sources coming through the windows during the day scenes, and motivated by candles and fires for night scenes. The whole thing doesn't look 100% realistic or natural, but it's so dreamy, soft and fuzzy that looks properly aged. Zsigmond classic operating with zoom lenses and cranes is marvelous as well.

Try to check it out, neither the film itself and even less its cinematography should dissapoint you.